I will never forgive Sadhvi Pragya for insulting Bapu, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he will never forgive Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur for insulting Mahatma Gandhi by calling Nathuram Godse a patriot.

"The statements given about Gandhiji or Godse are very bad and are wrong for the society. Though she (Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur) apologised but I will never forgive her," Prime Minister Modi said in an interview with News24 TV channel.

Congress leader Kapil Sibal had earlier today questioned Prime Minister Modi's silence on Sadhvi Pragya's remarks on Godse.

"When Sadhvi Pragya says: 'Godse a Deshbakht' and Modi is silent with Vidyasagar's statue a victim of the violent. I can only pray for my country and hope that one day the silent majority will keep violence at bay," Sibal tweeted.

Sadhvi Pragya, BJP's candidate from Bhopal Lok Sabha seat, had on Thursday sparked a controversy after she called Mahatma Gandhi's assassin, Nathuram Godse, a "patriot".

"Nathuram Godse was a deshbhakt, is a deshbhakt and will remain a deshbhakt," Thakur had said while commenting on actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan's remark that India's first terrorist was a Hindu, referring to Godse.

The opposition parties mounted an attack on her saying what she said reflected the mindset of the people nurtured by RSS ideology.

Pragya Thakur later apologised for her statement.

"If someone has been hurt then I apologise for it. What Gandhi ji did for this country cannot be forgotten. I respect him a lot. My statement was misinterpreted and twisted by the media," she said while talking to ANI.